Xenoanura phylogenetic analysis based on molecular and morphological data with emphasis on the species of the neotropical family Pipidae (Amphibia: Anura)

• Grant number: 12/04443-1
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Start date: June 01, 2012
• End date: December 31, 2015
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Zoology
• Principal Investigator: Célio Fernando Baptista Haddad
• Grantee: Olivia Gabriela dos Santos Araújo
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IB). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Rio Claro. Rio Claro , SP, Brazil
• Associated scholarship(s): 12/20754-7 - Analysis of the morphology and ontogeny of Xenoanuros herpetological collection of the museum of natural history, university of Kansas (KU) - Lawrence, Kansas, usa, BE.EP.DR

Abstract

Xenoanura contains 34 extant species that are subdivided into two families: The monotypic and fossorial species of Rhinophrynidae and the aquatic species of Pipidae (33 species grouped in 5 genera). Xenoanura also includes a rich fossil record, which provides evidence that may serve to construct hypotheses of a diversification pattern in the group. The current representatives of the Pipidae family are in Africa, in the south region of Sahara (Genera Hymenochirus, Pseudhymenochirus, Silurana, and Xenopus) and in the Neotropics, Central and South America (Genus Pipa). Pipa includes a set of species where females incubate their eggs in the back. Furthermore, in some species hatching occurs as in many other frogs, with free-living tadpoles, while in others larval stage suffers metamorphosis inside skim chambers of the females, and a froglet hatches (direct development). Available hypotheses of relationships for these frogs have not yet reached consensus, furthermore different authors, analyzing different datasets, have found contradictory results. This project aims to investigate a bit further the available evidence, generate additional data, from both, morphological and molecular analyses (including developmental data), and propose an hypothesis that may allow us, not only to better explain the pattern of relationships between the involved taxa, but also to serve as a reference for investigating possible problems in previous published articles. The phylogenetic hypotheses proposed here could also permit us to better understand the evolution of morphology and behavior in this group of frogs, and could further allow us to understand the impact of fossil and larval morphological data on the performance of several datasets analyzed for the phylogenetic reconstruction. (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

ARAUJO, OLIVIA G. S.; HADDAD, CELIO F. B.; DA SILVA, HELIO R.; PUGENER, LOURDES A.. A simplified table for staging embryos of the pipid frog Pipa arrabali. Anais da Academia Brasileira de Ciências, v. 88, n. 3, S, p. 1875-1887, NOV 2016. (12/04443-1, 13/50741-7, 08/50928-1)

ARAUJO, O. G. S.; PUGENER, L. A.; HADDAD, C. F. B.; DA SILVA, H. R.. Morphology and development of the hyolaryngeal apparatus of Pipa arrabali (Anura: Pipidae). ZOOLOGISCHER ANZEIGER, v. 269, p. 78-88, 2017. (12/04443-1, 08/50928-1, 13/50741-7)